The UK’s Energy Minister said Drax has “put the UK on the map” with its innovative new carbon capture and storage project.

Claire Perry, Energy and Clean Growth Minister, visited the power station, near Goole, which has embarked on an ambitious path to become the first carbon negative plant in the world.

Drax’s £400,000 pilot project is expected to catch a tonne of carbon dioxide created during the biomass combustion process every day.

If successful and the technology is scaled up, it could enable Drax to achieve negative emissions – meaning the power it produces would reduce the amount of carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere; vital in tackling climate change.

“Backed by government funded innovation, Drax has helped put the UK on the map when it comes to carbon capture ahead of pivotal talks with global leaders in Edinburgh this week, which aim to supercharge the global deployment of this game-changing technology.

“This project at Drax is already helping to put the UK on the map when it comes to carbon capture.

Read More

“The development of this cutting-edge technology to reduce emissions while growing the economy shows our modern Industrial Strategy in action. It is game-changing technology, which is why we need to supercharge its deployment.”

The Energy Minister during her visit to Drax (Image: Drax Group)

The carbon capture project has been identified as an essential technology for achieving global climate targets, and the UK government appeared to give its seal of approval to the concept at a world summit held in Edinburgh last week.

During her visit to Drax Power Station, the minister met the team behind the innovative project and heard about the commissioning of the plant, which got underway this week.

Read More

The government recently announced it was providing £20m to develop carbon capture equipment at industrial sites, as well as plans to repurpose fossil fuel infrastructure, such as reusing old gas pipelines to transport carbon.

Read More

Business news

“If this project is successful, it could enable Drax to become the world’s first carbon negative power station – something many would never have dreamed possible a decade ago.

“At Drax we want to create a low carbon future – to do that we have to test the technologies that could allow us, as well as the UK and the world, to deliver negative emissions and start to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.”

Follow us on Instagram - On the Hull Live Instagram page we share gorgeous pictures of our stunning city - and if you tag us in your posts, we could repost your picture on our page! We also put the latest news in our Instagram Stories. Click here to follow Hull Live on Instagram .